Pat Fitzgerald

School: Sandburg, 1993. Position: Linebacker. College: Northwestern. Fitzgerald was a Tribune All-State linebacker at Sandburg. He was NCAA Defensive Player of the Year and an All-American at Northwestern in 1995 and '96. After coaching stints at Maryland, Colorado and Idaho, he has returned to Evanston and joined the staff at his alma mater. What was your greatest moment in football? Walking onto the field for the first time in Pasadena at the Rose Bowl in 1995 and seeing "Northwestern"...

Penn State has interest in hiring Jim Phillips to be its next athletic director, two industry sources told the Tribune, but few believe Phillips would leave Northwestern if he's offered the job. One source said not to dismiss the possibility, given that Penn State is likely to offer its top choice in excess of $1 million per year. Phillips' annual compensation package at Northwestern is believed to be around $750,000. Penn State has a new president in Eric Barron, but he...

The eternal optimist of Northwestern football has every reason to be annoyed. His team lost seven straight games last season, blowing enough late leads to wonder whether Carlos Marmol was its quarterback. Four key defensive linemen are out for spring ball, which begins Wednesday, because of post-surgical recoveries, forcing coach Pat Fitzgerald to space out the heavy hitting. And, oh yeah, Kain Colter torched him in public testimony in a hearing before the National Labor...

They first raced on the day they were born, with Andrew Dowell beating twin David by 22 minutes. In the ensuing years, the three Dowell brothers - Michael is the youngest - would sprint to see who could touch the door handle of the family car first. At stake: the privilege of riding shotgun. Earlier this week, David earned bragging rights by declaring his commitment to play football for Northwestern. With family members monitoring via speaker phone, Andrew...

When defensive lineman Fred Wyatt's name first came up in a staff meeting, Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald chuckled. Fitzgerald first met Wyatt when he was barely old enough to carry a football. In 1999, as a defensive graduate assistant at Colorado, Fitzgerald distributed pizza slices at a summer camp in Boulder. Wyatt nicknamed him "The Pizza Pizza Guy. " "I reminded him of that when he first came to campus, and he had no clue what I was talking about,"...

Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald calls starting quarterback Trevor Siemian “our leader … it's his football team. " Siemian on Wednesday used that platform to explain why he will vote no to unionizing on April 25. “We filed for employee cards (Jan. 28), but that doesn't mean a union is the right avenue,” he said. “Especially at Northwestern, where most guys on the team agree we have been treated very, very well. I'm treated here far better than I deserve.” ...

They say all politics is local. In the case of the Northwestern union vote, it has become personal. While former Wildcats quarterback Kain Colter and College Athletes Players' Association chief Ramogi Huma met with lawmakers in Washington on Wednesday, coach Pat Fitzgerald delivered a message to his players. Addressing them for the first time after getting clearance from university lawyers, Fitzgerald told them it's in their "best interests" to vote no on unionization...

They say all politics is local. In the case of the Northwestern union vote, it has become personal. While former Wildcats quarterback Kain Colter and College Athletes Players' Association chief Ramogi Huma met with lawmakers in Washington on Wednesday, coach Pat Fitzgerald delivered a message to his players. Addressing them for the first time after getting clearance from university lawyers, Fitzgerald told them it's in their "best interests" to vote no on unionization...

Winding around back roads in southern Illinois, Pat Fitzgerald learned the type of coach he wanted to be while searching for recruits and off-the-path bookstores. While former coach Randy Walker could sniff out a bookshop no matter how rural the location, what stood out most to the young assistant was Walker's sheer delight with his finds -- the players, not the novels. "He had a love affair, like I do, with our players," Fitzgerald said. "I think it was just...

Northwestern is ready - finally - to build the multipurpose lakefront facility that football coach Pat Fitzgerald says will be a "game-changer" for his program. Donations have poured in despite the Wildcats' 5-7 record last season. Sources said construction of the two-building complex will begin by early 2015 and should take about two years to complete. The school will announce Friday, the Tribune has learned, that it is launching a new fundraising campaign...

At first it looks like a routine kick-coverage drill during another fall practice. Then a Northwestern assistant coach sprints onto the field and gets in the ear of a player. "You are being selfish!" Pat Fitzgerald screams at an unsuspecting Wildcat who had committed what would have been a penalty in a game. "That was one of my young linebackers," Fitzgerald says. "You can line up and take a kill-shot at someone and get a penalty. If you make a poor choice in practice, you make a poor...

There was a moment in Northwestern's season finale when it struck Trevor Siemian. "I had a chance to just cut it loose and not look back," he said. "I felt like it was my team. " Kain Colter was sidelined with an ankle injury, leaving Siemian free to carve up Illinois' bottom-rung secondary for 414 yards. When Siemian looked to the sideline, it was to get the next play, not to see if he would be replaced in NU's two-quarterback offense. "I'm trying to carry over...

When Pat Fitzgerald has needed a hand, Pat Fitzgerald has been there, a father helping a son. Friday morning, the son gave the father a call and asked him to drive to Evanston. The father threw his tools in his car. "They have a new house and a million things to do," he said. "I thought I was just going to give him a hand." The son wanted to make sure the father was there when he was named Northwestern's football coach, just as he was there to motivate him through youth football, help him...

So much for those Friday night lights. Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany told the Tribune on Thursday the conference is not seeking to play more Friday night games, with the exception of the day after Thanksgiving. Friday night games on Labor Day weekend, before some schools are in session, will continue. In addressing TV negotiations that are slated to begin in 2015, Delany said the conference is emphasizing increasing night games on Saturdays in November. ...

To put it in football terms, there is still time on the clock in this hard-fought contest, and the atmosphere off the field of play also had drama. On the fourth day of testimony at a labor hearing in Chicago focusing on the question of whether Northwestern University football players also are university employees, head football coach Pat Fitzgerald on Friday directly contradicted his former starting quarterback, Kain Colter. Where Colter had spoken of 50- to 60-hour...

When Northwestern center Brandon Vitabile said "the team" had signed off on a statement in support of the football program and coach Pat Fitzgerald, he meant it. Vitabile said Thursday that the statement, emailed last week to the Tribune, was produced after a meeting involving all the players. "Everyone's opinion matters," he said. So Vitabile gathered the team to discuss what would be submitted, asking his teammates for "questions, opinions, thoughts. " The anchor of...

Pat Fitzgerald pulled out his new Wilson driver on the first tee. He never had swung it before. He hadn't swung any club in 2009. This round would be played for public consumption, his score printed in a newspaper. And Fitzgerald didn't care. He's hyper-competitive in football but super-chill in golf. We didn't even visit the driving range at Evanston Golf Club before teeing off. All Fitzgerald did to prepare was watch a few minutes of The Golf Channel the night before. And that...

Three former Northwestern University football players testified Tuesday at a labor board hearing about a supportive coach who relaxed rules and moved practice times so they could attend classes and study for tests. Their testimony contrasted with that of Kain Colter, who described a grueling football schedule that led the former quarterback to choose an easier major. Tuesday marked the fifth and final day of testimony in Chicago before an officer of the National Labor Relations...

Do you think the Bears will call Jon Gruden or Bill Cowher? -- @bWalk01, from Twitter I don't think the Bears will go that route. I believe Phil Emery is looking for an unassuming grinder, probably an up and comer, who will work with him in lockstep. A high profile coach who has had success like Gruden or Cowher is more likely to want to control various aspects of the team. I don't see Gruden and Emery as a fit from a personality standpoint. Emery would probably be more apt to try to hire the next...

The eternal optimist of Northwestern football has every reason to be annoyed. His team lost seven straight games last season, blowing enough late leads to wonder whether Carlos Marmol was its quarterback. Four key defensive linemen are out for spring ball, which begins Wednesday, because of post-surgical recoveries, forcing coach Pat Fitzgerald to space out the heavy hitting. And, oh yeah, Kain Colter torched him in public testimony in a hearing before the National Labor...